Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Kansas has ridiculous laws

So I wanted to update this last night, but passed out. So here's a recap of both yesterday and today all in one.

Yesterday morning, we got up at 5:30 am because we were not done packing still. My dad and aunt got to my hotel at 7:30 (we were still not finished packing). My dad and I went to get the Uhaul trailer (which was scheduled to be ready at 7 (because I called when they sent a confirmation of noon). Well, they forgot about it so it took about an hour to get it. We went home with the trailer, loaded up a ton of stuff for Goodwill and J and my dad went to drop it off. They came back. I took my dad to the bank and Walmart. It is now 10:30. We start packing inside again and also loading up the truck. And keep this up until about 1. Then we start rearranging things because there's not enough room, somehow. Then we start throwing things out because well, it's just not important. (As a side note, this hurt my environmental side a lot to be throwing things out.)

My dad and aunt leave at 3 with the trailer to get a head start. J and I clean up and turn in the keys and leave at 4.

We drove the first 450 miles yesterday, and I was bored by the end of the first hour. I was violently woken awake, though, when an 18-wheeler decided to be an ass and speed up to pass me, but then got stuck behind another 18-wheeler. Oh, no problem, he'd just come back into my lane anyway. So he started to. I swerved to the left a little to miss it and honked of course. He did not seem phased. And of course there was no "how's my driving" number on the back of the truck.

We only made one stop before the hotel in Missouri, which is probably why me made good time. It was a Motel 6 so those are pretty hit or miss. This one was a miss. I prepared pasta salad and salads before the trip since I can't eat most fast food unless they have vegetarian options (these are few and far between). There wasn't a microfridge, which was both strange and also a little frustrating, but not a huge deal. The people were a little questionable around there, but we did survive. I may have had a hard time sleeping worrying about my car being broken into or something except that it was now 11:30 pm (12:30 am, but my body thought it was 12:30 am because it didn't understand the time difference), and I was out almost as soon as we were cuddled up in the (questionable) bed.

So fast forward to this morning. I set my alarm for 9, but forgot to change which day it was supposed to go off from Monday to Tuesday. It didn't go off. The puppy *always* wakes up to go out between 9 and 9:30. It's so regular that we often don't set an alarm unless it has to be earlier than this. Of course this morning, she didn't wake us up. She let us sleep in until 10. Probably would have been okay with longer except that some noise woke me up luckily. I took the world's fastest shower and we checked out just in time.

Today we drove the longer stretch. 615 miles. I was so restless from riding in the car by hour number 3 today. Fortunately both Miss Kitty and the puppy slept almost the entire time. We stopped twice today, the first time for about 45 minutes. We just wandered the gas station. The second time probably wouldn't have been necessary except that I only get about 350 miles for a tank of gas and we'd filled up too early.

We also stopped when the police in lovely Kansas pulled J over. He was behind me so I knew he hadn't been speeding. The speed limit is 75 through here so there's really no reason to go any faster. I pulled over, too, when I saw him stopped. This meant the other police came to see me.

Apparently, it's illegal to stop on the side of the interstate in Kansas. Well, I wouldn't be stopped if you hadn't pulled my boyfriend for nothing.

It is also evidently illegal to drive in the left lane unless you are passing someone. Really?? What kind of law is this? When driving long distances, I stay in the left lane because I know I'm going faster than most and don't want to switch lanes constantly. J is *obviously* from out of state, though, so they gave him a warning. Also, why was I not pulled when I was right in front of him in the left lane?

I figured out that the law is probably to keep traffic from getting backed up if two people are both going under the speed limit in opposite lanes. I figured this out minutes before I watched a trailer passing but not passing another trailer. They were both going about 60 (so 15 miles under the speed limit) and this went on for about 5 miles. If there's a law, this would be the time to enforce it.

But we have now made it to the second hotel, which is just 2 hours (including time change) from the new apartment! It is a lot nicer and has a very comfy bed so we will be crashing now. I'm also worried that the internet will cut out since it's not actually Motel 6's. Their password doesn't work so I'm on Arby's or something.

The next time I update will be from land of the snow instead of land of the pollen!